Out of Line
by Matthew Deleget & Rossana Martinez

The following text was published in the exhibition catalogue Out of Line on the occasion of the group exhibition curated by Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez at the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, NY, 2013.

Participating Artists:
Hércules Barsotti, Feliza Bursztyn, Omar Carreño, Willys de Castro, Gego, Judith Lauand, Juan Melé, Rubén Núñez, Hélio Oiticica, Alejandro Otero, Luiz Sacilotto, Ivan Serpa, Jean Tinguely

We are pleased to present Out of Line, the first pop-up exhibition organized in collaboration with the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Out of Line highlights nearly thirty historical works -– including painting, drawing, works on paper, and sculpture -– by thirteen, primarily South American artists who spent the greater part of their lives investigating the language of reductive abstraction during one of its most fertile periods, from the late1940s through the early 1980s. 

Beginning with Colombian artist Feliza Bursztyn’s raucous, stainless steel sculpture Sin título (de la serie Histéricas) (1967) as our point of departure, we selected art works for this exhibition that possess a kind of human disposition. Although geometric upon first appearance, the works are not platonic by nature and depict virtually no hard dominant shapes, severe right angles, rigorous mathematical patterns, or industrial precision. Rather, works are made gingerly by hand and reflect a range of human qualities and emotions. They can feel optimistic, humorous, heady, intimate, mysterious, and political. 

Similar to us as individuals, these art works strongly convey a sense of becoming, rather than being. Their forms are unabashedly animated. They stand, lean, bend, sway, twirl, tremble, and tumble.  Brought together into the context of a single exhibition space, they form a vigorous and shifting social dynamic akin to a live stage performance, energetic children’s playground, or bustling subway platform.

We are deeply grateful to Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, Skye Monson, and the staff of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros for inviting to us to collaborate with them on an exhibition of their unparalleled collection. It’s a personal honor and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us as artists and founders of MINUS SPACE.